A Virginia school board has removed a Sherlock Holmes book from its sixth-grade reading list after a parent challenged the book as derogatory toward Mormons, according to The Daily Progress.
The book, A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the first published story involving the famous character Sherlock Holmes.
The parent who first complained, Brette Stevenson, told the Albermarle County School Board on Thursday, "A Study in Scarlet has been used to introduce students to the mystery genre and into the character of Sherlock Holmes. This is our young students’ first inaccurate introduction to an American religion," according to the newspaper.
The newspaper article doesn't elaborate on what specifically was offensive to the parent about the book, but a USA Today article may provide a clue, quoting a paragraph in which a character says the idea of his daughter marrying a Mormon would be "a shame and a disgrace."
Part of the story takes place in 19th-century Utah. According to a 1994 Salt Lake Tribune article, the book bolstered the idea that "Danites, the Avenging Angels of Mormondom, were steeped in the assassination of apostates, and that polygamy was white slavery."
Lisa Schencker
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